Like the mythical
Phoenix that rises from its ashes, the 5-manual 106-rank Adrian Phillips pipe
organ has undergone a remarkable rebirth.For the Phillips family, who rescued the instrument in 1974 from neglect
and disrepair, witnessing the rebirth of this instrument in its present form
represents the realization of a lifelong dream.

At a larger level,
however, their newly-installed instrument realizes a dream that many organ
builders have had for decades: to conceive a pipe organ equally adept at
playing theatre organ repertoire, classical literature, symphonic music, and
orchestral transcriptions.Many have
taken up the challenge, but very few have been able to accomplish the
task.This instrument powerfully
demonstrates that such an organ can be successfully created.

The organ was
originally built by the Midmer-Losh organ company between 1923 and 1925 as Opus
4920 for the Atlantic City High School in Atlantic City, New Jersey.The high school instrument was designed by
New Jersey Senator and Atlantic City native, Emerson L. Richards, for whom pipe
organs were a great

passion.

The original instrument
totaled 75 ranks, and became the largest pipe organ ever installed in an
American public school.The instrument
was housed in six chambers with the following divisions: Great Unenclosed,Great Enclosed, Solo, Orchestral, Floating,
Choir Division I, Choir Division II (borrowed from the Floating division),
Antiphonal, and Pedal Unenclosed, Pedal (enclosed in Solo).

Over the course of the
next several years, various changes and additions were made to the instrument,
bringing the organ to a total of 125 ranks.Throughout the years that the organ played in the auditorium, many
public concerts were given, including by resident city organist, Arthur Scott
Brook.After the high school project was
completed, Senator Richards went on to design and build the world's largest
pipe organ: the 7-manual, 455-rank Midmer-Losh at the Atlantic City Convention
Hall.

Unfortunately, the high
school organ along with the building itself fell into such a state of disrepair
that much of the original pipework was beyond salvage.In December 1974, Adrian W. Phillips, Jr.
(who himself had been a student at Atlantic City High School and was class
organist of 1941) was visiting his relatives in the area for the holidays and
learned that the high school organ was scheduled to be removed and
discarded.Adrian and his son, Adrian W.
Phillips III, went to the school to investigate the instrument and decided to
purchase it on the spot.The organ was removed
from the school, placed in storage in New Jersey, and

gradually transported
to Phoenix over the next six years.

In late 1980, Adrian
and his family found a new site for a home located in the Doubletree Canyon
area of greater Phoenix.In 1981, a new
home was built on a lot with space for a music studio to be constructed at a
later date.In 1984, additional pipework
was acquired from the original Longwood Gardens estate, once owned by the
Pierre S. DuPont family.During the next
decade, Adrian also acquired various organ parts to be used in the restoration
process of the instrument.

In 1999, planning
commenced for building the music room that would house the organ.Construction started in October 2000 and was
completed in July 2001.The music room
measures an impressive 178 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 24 feet high to the
apex of the building.In order to
accommodate the organ’s massive 32-foot pipes, two pedal wells were constructed
on the east end of the room, which sit four and six feet below the level of the
main floor.With the music room
constructed, the organ restoration began in January 2002.

The Phillips family
contracted with long-time Phoenix resident and noted theatre organist Lyn
Larsen to oversee the rebuilding and reinstallation of the instrument.All of the organ's components were
painstakingly restored from the ground up.This process continued through the end of 2006 with a crew of four
full-time organ technicians working under the direction of Mr. Larsen.Additional pipework was obtained from a
variety of sources to complete the new tonal design of the instrument.

The organ currently has
106 ranks (totaling 6,694 pipes) that speak from seven pipe chambers.Three chambers (Orchestral, Floating, and
Choir) are

situated on the west end
of the music room, with four chambers (Solo, Upper Great, Lower Great, and
String) speaking from the opposite end of the room.

Like the pipework in
the instrument, the original Midmer-Losh console was in a state of extreme
disrepair when the Phillips family acquired it in 1974.As the

reinstallation of the
organ progressed, a great deal of work was done to rebuild the impressive
5-manual organ console.Ken Crome of
Reno, Nevada, repaired and refinished the original casework and built a new
fallboard and stopjambs.The keyboards
were completely rebuilt, and Syndyne stop actions installed.A Uniflex 2000 computerized relay system
(often cited as the most versatile relay in the industry) was installed by
Phoenix resident Al Young to control the instrument.

The first sounds of the
instrument were heard in November 2003 with just a few ranks playing on the
west end of the room.In May 2004, with
35 ranks complete, the organ made its public début to the American Guild of
Organists with 130 people in attendance.During the next two years, the organ was completed on the west end of
the room, and construction began in the chambers on the east end.The four chambers located on the east end
were completed by the end of 2006.

A REVOLUTION IN ORGAN
DESIGN

The resulting
instrument represents a true revolution in organ design.Notably, when the plans were first drawn up
for the reinstallation of the instrument, much thought was given to how to
create a truly versatile instrument capable of performing an unprecedented
variety of repertoire.The Phillips
family wanted to have an instrument that could successfully interpret the gamut
of classical and symphonic repertoire, orchestral music, as well as theatre
organ works.

Creating such an
instrument is a frequently sought-after, yet rarely attained goal.Indeed, organists have often expressed
frustration when approaching an instrument that is rigidly locked into one
specific musical style.Because of the
way the instruments are designed, many theatre organs have difficulty playing
classical repertoire convincingly.Conversely, many classical organs struggle to recreate the lighter and
more orchestral music so often associated with the theatre organ.These limitations are not surprising, given
that many instruments are designed to handle a specific type of music.Coaxing an organ to recreate music of a style
it was never designed to play is akin to the age-old dilemma of the square peg
and the round hole.

To that end, two very
important decisions were made early on that would allow the Midmer-Losh to
become an instrument equally at home playing classical,

symphonic, orchestral,
and theatre organ repertoire.First, the
organ was reinstalled primarily on unit chests.The unit chest design--a hallmark of theatre organ building--allows the
organ's various ranks to be playable at any pitch from any of the instrument's
five manuals (keyboards) and pedal.Second, and equally as important, the winding systems were redesigned to
ensure that enough of the ranks were independent of each other so that a
variety of tremulants (vibrato) could be used throughout the organ.

Among the ranks added
to the organ during the reinstallation were a select handful of theatre organ
pipework from various builders, including Wurlitzer, Kimball, Barton, and
Robert-Morton.Every care was taken so
that all of the organ's voices from all of the manufacturers would blend well
together and create a unified and musically successful sound.

The result is an
instrument that is truly the first of its kind, in that it beautifully
synthesizes the best of symphonic/classical organ design with the best of
theatre organ design.When played as a
classical organ, one is immediately reminded of the so-called "English
cathedral organ" school of organ building, with its solid Diapason
choruses and broad, majestic chorus reeds.Similarly, for symphonic playing, the organ abounds with string tone (29
ranks), color reeds and flutes.And when
played theatrically, the organist can find every nuance contained in the most
refined of theatre organs.

At bottom, the organ's
revolutionary design works because it makes sense musically.Like a chameleon, this instrument can
seamlessly switch among various styles, remaining faithful to each musical
school of thought without the slightest compromise.

CLICK HERE for a complete specification and
chamber analysis of the Midmer-Losh